The National Association of Evangelicals recently published a declaration For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility.  It was endorsed by  52 denominations with about 45,000 Churches with over 30 million members.  It is a mandate to evangelicals to get active for faith in the public square to challenge the dominance of secularism in our society.  

An article in the New Yorker magazine: God and Country by Hanna Rosin tells the story of one Christian college - Patrick Henry College - that is dedicated to preparing Christian young people for public service.

Also, a book has just been published on this subject: God on the Quad by Naomi Riley She looks at a how  Christian College's are preparing Christian young people for service in the public square. Here is an article on the book at the American Enterprise online site. Here is a  Review by Jonathan Berry and a Q & A with National Review online

Note this quote by Riley as it relates to the future of faith at work.

"The missionary generation is a small but increasingly influential group. Unlike members of their parents' generation, these religious youth want to move to blue America — they dream of living in the cultural and political centers of the country. And no, they don't see their primary role as working in churches. They go on for advanced degrees and aim to become professionals in every walk of life. A good number join the Army. They are also becoming lawyers, doctors, politicians, college professors, businessmen, psychologists, accountants, and philanthropists.

So it looks like faith at work in the public square has a future in "blue America!"

Riley also mentions Alexis de Tocqueville's ideal of a civil society where religion plays a positive role in civil discourse. She ends her book with this conclusion.

"Although America's most seriously religious colleges have an evangelical mission, it is a broader one that that of spreading their faith. Today's "missionary generation" seeks to enhance the ethical core of American life, combating the tendencies toward individualism and materialism against which thoughtful observers since Tocqueville have warned. If the perpetuation of liberty depends on the continued propagation of virtues like integrity, loyalty. courage. charity. and self-restraint, then America's religious colleges will be a vital component in this country's future. Those schools that succeed best at integrating serious spiritual and intellectual education may even help bridge the recent divide between Red and Blue America."